On December 5, 2017, Kazan National Cultural Centre hosted the final session of the International Networking Applied Research Conference “New Standards and Technologies of Engineering Education: University Opportunities and Needs of Petrochemical Sector (Synergy-2017)” and was held with the participation of the representatives from 15 supporting universities of Gazprom, engineering universities of Russia and foreign countries, leading petrochemical companies of Tatarstan, foreign and Russian experts in engineering education. Synergy-2017 was held at the initiative of Kazan National Research Technological University.

The objective of the conference was to consider the global and domestic experience of applying new engineering education standards and technologies aimed at training sought-after specialists for petrochemical enterprises.
At the plenary meeting and four sections of the conference’s final session, new approaches was considered for the training of sought-after specialists for petrochemical enterprises, innovations in engineering teaching and engineering education, system of standards and accreditation, development of technology entrepreneurship, upgrading the qualifications of engineering university teachers, ratings and quality of engineering education, as well as programmes of early engineering career guidance for schoolchildren within the “school-university-enterprise” paradigm.

Round table discussion was devoted to the development of the personnel potential in the Tatarstan’s petrochemical sector. It was attended by Director General of the Tatarstan Association of Enterprises and Industrialists – Aleksey Pakhomov, Deputy Director General for Corporate Protection and Personnel Management of Gazprom Transgaz Kazan – Marat Akhmetzyanov, Director General of Tatneftekhiminvest Holding – Rafinat Yarullin, Acting Rector of KNRTU – Sergey Yushko, First Deputy Director of the Institute for Additional Professional Education of KNRTU – Mansur Galikhanov and Deputy Director of the Institute for Additional Professional Education of KNRTU – Vladimir Snurnitsyn.
In his opening speech Acting Rector of KNRTU – Dr. Sergey Yushko welcomed the President of IGIP (International Society for Engineering Pedagogy) – Hanno Hortsch, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan - Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan – Albert Karimov, Vice President of ISEP – Jose Carlos Lourenco Quadrado, the President of Association for Engineering Education of Russia – Yury Pokholkov, Executive Director of the National Training Foundation – Irina Arzhanova, Director of the Gazprom Corporate Institute – Evgeniy Politov, Executive Director of Russian Monitoring Center of IGIP – Vyacheslav Prihodko, faculty and staff of the universities and other participants.

The sessions of the «Synergy-2017» were held in September-December, 2017, on the base of the basic universities of Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Ufa, Tyumen, Ukhta, Tomsk as plenary sessions, round tables, expert workshops, panel discussions, video conferences.